Why Photographers Should Take Heed of the Mere Exposure Effect

The Mere Exposure Effect is a principle first proposed back in the 1960s. It’s an important consideration for any photographer who wants to produce either popular images or push the boundaries and appeal to a smaller, more discerning audience. Your stylistic choice will impact the broadness of your photos’ appeal.

Do you have a distinctive photographic style or styles? If you don’t, then it’s something you should think about. Style results from a mixture of creative elements working together to bring about a particular appearance. In other words, it’s a combination of variables resulting in consistency across a body of work.

In painting, style is a combination of the art movement, the subject genre, the composition, how the artist sees the subject, and their approach to selecting and using their brushes and media.

In photography, it is much the same. Beyond the choice of genre and subject matter, there is much more to creating a style. How you see the subject, where you position your camera, and the camera system and lens you use all have a bearing. Then there’s the choice of lighting intensity, color, and angle. Plus, of course, the depth of field, revealing or stopping movement, processing, printing, etc. They all add together to make your style.

All great photographers from history had their stylistic qualities in their work. Sometimes, these qualities evolved. On the other hand, others stuck with one particular style they perfected throughout their lives. Whichever they chose, although their style was unique to the photographer, it often had close similarities to its predecessors or contemporaries, but not always. Other photographers pushed the boundaries and produced work very different from the norm.

There’s nothing wrong with having more than one style. If you dabble in multiple genres, you most likely have a different style for each, although there may be some cross-pollination between them. But let’s consider what your style does for your photographs’ appeal.

Where Styles Come From

All artists and photographers are influenced, consciously or subconsciously, by other works. That is how art movements develop. Groups of people create work that is influenced by those around them. This is usually an evolutionary step from what came before. However, it can be a complete rejection of what preceded it. For example, post-modernism rejected the modernist movement, which in turn was a rejection of pictorialism.

Every photo you observe affects your subconscious and influences your work. Feed yourself on popular photos, and they influence what you like and, consequently, what you produce. However, if you seek out the unusual, you may be drawn to taking images in a similar vein. Like it or not, your style comes from the influence of others.

Interference Makes People Forget Your Popular Photos

Do you ever unwind in front of the television? If so, consider the last few times you watched a popular culture talent show. Try to recall how many of the performances you remember. If you have a personal connection to one of the entertainers, their performance was probably memorable for you. Occasionally, an act astounds you, and you will easily recall it.

Nevertheless, most will now be part of a background mush from a forgotten hour of your life when you unwound in front of the TV one evening. All those young women who sang popular Whitney Houston songs had good voices. Furthermore, they had worked hard at their performances for years. They did what they liked doing and would not have reached as far as they did without their perseverance coupled with their aptitude. At the time of transmission, millions enjoyed their performances. They brought joy for five minutes, but now they are mostly forgotten.

The same applies to photography.

Unless you have an exceptional memory, you won’t recall most images you have seen before. Some you will remember because you found them especially outstanding. Like the song sung by the five-minute TV star you know, if you have a close connection to the photographer, you may remember their work. Nevertheless, you will soon be unable to recall most photos you see. The same will apply to your popular photographs. People will like them, but they will be quickly forgotten.

Interference theory suggests that forgetting occurs because similar memories interfere with each other, thus making it difficult to retrieve the correct information. Those young women singing Whitney Houston were momentarily appreciated but soon forgotten because of their similarity. Likewise, creating images resembling many others will attract momentary appreciation—these days often in the form of social media likes—but it will make them less memorable in the long term.

The Mere Exposure Effect

If a large audience is important to you, you should work hard to produce images similar to other great photos. Indeed, most photographers have a body of work that is easy to like because it is comfortably familiar to the audience. You are producing photographs that fit with the expectations of the masses who have been fed on similar work.

Psychologists call this the Mere Exposure Effect. It suggests that people prefer things simply because they are familiar. Therefore, repeated exposure to a particular photographic style or subject can make that style feel more comfortable and enjoyable to a wide audience.

Moreover, familiar styles, themes, and subjects are easier for the brain to interpret, leading to a more pleasurable experience. This is known as Aesthetic Fluency. People find pleasure in simple art that is easy to process and understand. That pretty landscape takes little interpreting and therefore will have wider appeal than a mystifying abstract photo with hidden meanings.

However, it does mean that, through exposure, you can train your mind to appreciate the unusual.

The Photographer's Paradox

So, the photographer needs to make a decision. Do they want their style to fit with the majority and have broader appeal but not be so memorable, or should they break away from the commonplace and produce less easily liked, more challenging work that people will recall?

There’s no right or wrong answer to this paradox. Some individuals have a strong preference for certainty and order. So, familiar-looking styles can provide a sense of predictability and stability, which can be comforting to those seeking what is known as cognitive closure. Consequently, their work will fit this common mindset and thus be more popular. But it will also be more forgettable.

Meanwhile, other photographers have a high need for cognition, meaning they like engaging in effortful intellectual activities. They enjoy understanding intricate concepts and exploring new ideas, even if it requires more mental effort. They are open to new experiences, curiosity, imagination, and open-mindedness. Photographers with this mindset will produce novel and challenging images because they find them intellectually stimulating and rewarding. However, their photos are less likely to have mass appeal, although they will be more memorable.

Optimal Distinctiveness

There’s another consideration to all this. Optimal Distinctiveness Theory suggests that people need to balance their desire for individuality with wanting social inclusion. Being drawn to unusual photographic styles might satisfy a photographer’s need for uniqueness and distinctiveness, allowing them to feel special and different from the crowd. On the other hand, those who seek social acceptance through their work will produce images that help them fit in.

Not everyone is the same in this respect. Some lean more toward individuality, and others are more motivated by inclusion. They are just two very different and equally valid ways of approaching photography, and there’s nothing wrong with either.

In Conclusion

One of the benefits of adopting any style is simultaneously one of its drawbacks: it can entice some and alienate others. That leads us to consider our audience. To whom do you want your photos to appeal? Do you want a style that looks like others’ work and conforms to the expectations of the masses, attracting a wide audience who will enjoy your images for a shorter time? Or do you seek a smaller, more select group that will remember your unusual work for longer?

Perhaps you have different styles, attempting to do a bit of both. Whichever your approach, deciding what you want to do and influencing your taste and thus your style with deliberate intent must be far better than just being swept along by the tide.